Texas on the Potomac today launches TexMessage, our new daily e-newsletter. Each morning, we hope to give you the latest news you need to know about Texans in Washington, national news of interest to Texans and Texas news exclusives. Please let us know what you’d like us to add (or subtract) from this daily report to make it more useful to you. Tips are welcome, of course!

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TexMessage Exclusive

Eight Texas congressmen were lobbied by the registered agents of the Libyan government in 2008 before Congress passed legislation easing the decades-old sanctions on Libya. Three Houston lawmakers &#151 Gene Green, Sheila Jackson Lee and John Culberson &#151 were among them. The most heavily lobbied Texan was Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-El Paso, who at the time was chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.

Several of the lobbyists for Moammar Gadhafi’s government were former members of Congress, led by former Rep. Bill Livingston, R-La.

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Texas Tips

Every morning, we offer Texas news you may not have heard and insights from the Washington bureau staff.

&#9733 MORNING JO(K)E? Texas Sen. John Cornyn and MSNBC host Joe Scarborough have radically different recollections of conversations they had about the possibility of recruiting Scarborough, a former Florida congressman, as a 2012 Senate candidate. Scarborough told Politico that Cornyn, chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, had felt him out about a possible challenge to Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida.

“Cornyn asked me if I would be interested in running in New York in 2010 and I was not. I love the job that I have. And then when he was on the show last time, he started talking about Bill Nelson and how weak Bill Nelson was, and said I should consider running in Florida,” said Scarborough, who is also a columnist for POLITICO.

Cornyn’s top NRSC staffer issued this statement: “Not only did Sen. Cornyn not ask him to run for the Senate in Florida, but for a number of reasons it stretches the bounds of credulity to even see why he would be considered a strong, viable contender in Florida this cycle.” More in Politico>>>

&#9733 TESTING THE WATERS IN TEXAS. Past-and-possibly-future presidential candidate Mike Huckabee visited Texas yesterday to sell his latest book and make friends in one of the biggest GOP presidential primary prizes of 2012. Huck, the former governor of neighboring Arkansas, now a Fox News host, visited Hastings in Tyler and Barron’s in Longview before crossing the Louisiana border for a book-signing at Barnes and Noble in Shreveport.

&#9733 THE REVOLVING DOOR REVOLVES AGAIN. Ravi Sawhney, a former senior legislative assistant to Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D- Houston, has been hired as a consultant for lobbying firm Fabiani & Company. He also worked in the U.S. Health and Human Services Department under President Obama. CQ>>>

&#9733 PAYING TRIBUTE TO BUSH. The March 21 DC tribute to Houston’s favorite ex-president, George H.W. Bush, will feature a star-packed entertainment line-up headlined by Sheryl Crow, Cee Lo Green, Reba McEntire, Sam Moore, Brad Paisley, Kid Rock, Darius Rucker and Carrie Underwood. Every living ex-president will be there, including son George W. and good friend Bill Clinton. More>>>

&#9733 NO WHINE ZONE. On the eve of March Madness, former President H.W. Bush, has a message to all of you couch potatoes: “Find something to do. Get off the bench and don’t sit there whining, sucking your thumb. Get in the game.” More>>>

Despite his re-election defeat, George H.W. Bush has become a popular and admired ex-president. His leadership in the Persian Gulf and Eastern Europe are remembered more today than the recession that cost him a second term.

I don’t want to live in a country where anyone with brown skin is randomly stopped and asked to produce documents. Isn’t it interesting that it’s the same folks advocating this who are telling us “Big Government” is infringing on our freedom.

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Texas Watch

TxPotomac lets you know what stories to look out for throughout the day &#151 and the week ahead.

&#9733 The Sunlight Foundation holds a panel discussion on a possible overhaul of lobbying disclosure rules at 2 p.m. EDT in the Rayburn House Office Building, room 2203.

&#9733 The House Energy and Commerce Committee starts a two-day markup of a bill that would block the EPA from regulating greenhouse gas emissions at 3 p.m. in the Rayburn House Office Building, room 2123

On the jump: The rest of the week

Texas Watch

TxPotomac lets you know what stories to look out for through the week.

&#9733 House Technology and Innovation Subcommittee Chairman Ben Quayle, R-Ariz., chairs a hearing on research and development programs designed to protect homeland security at 10 a.m. EDT in the Rayburn House Office Building, room 2318.

&#9733 The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment and Related Agencies holds a hearing on the budget for BOEMRE, with Director Michael Bromwich at 1 p.m. EDT in Rayburn House Office Building, room B308.

On Deck: Wednesday

&#9733 The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy and Power hearing on the budgets for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Department of Energy at 9:30 a.m. Energy Secretary Steven Chu and NRC chairman Gregory Jaczo are slated to testify.

&#9733 The Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works Committee holds a hearing to discuss the final report of the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling, Dirksen Senate Office Building, room 406. Key witnesses: Commission co-chairs William Reilly and Bob Graham.

&#9733 President Obama leaves on his first trip to South and Central America. Energy policy is on the agenda in his first stop: Brazil.

The nuclear crisis in Japan has rekindled a debate about the safety of the power source. It also may have delivered the final blow to an administration-backed plan to cut carbon dioxide emissions by mandating utilities generate more electricity from low-emission and renewable sources. The subject is likely to come up during a House hearing Wednesday with the head of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.